1st Grade Bible Presentation

Reed was presented his bible at church this morning. He was a little nervous about going up front by himself, but he did a great job.

First day of school

Here we are with our first grader (!) before we left the house. Hudson wanted to be in the pictures too... :)

Doesn't reed look so happy?


He was not excited about going to school - he had such a fun summer, that he was pretty upset he had to go sit back in a classroom. Once we got to the school, his attitude seem to change. He saw all the kids and I think memories of last year came flooding back and he got excited again.
While he was at school, I went to the gym, to the store to buy groceries and made him his first day of school treat.


A friend of mine made very similar cupcakes a couples of years ago for her kiddos, and I needed something quick and easy... So I stole your idea Alisha!!! :) Before I knew it, it was time to go pick him up. 

He had a great day and loves his teacher. I think we're in for a great first grade year!

Pictures of Summer

These are all pictures that Susan has sent me.  They are all kind of random, but cute, so I thought I'd make one quick little post.  This first one is from the night when Grace opened her birthday gifts ( you can read about it here).  You may have to enlarge the picture by clicking on it, but I think the expression on her face while looking at Hudson reads loud and clear - This Woody doll is MINE.  Check out her hand on Woody's face... just for security purposes.  Hilarious!

I realized most of these involved Hudson, but he is so expressive an funny. For example...

This is me holding Hudson on vacation after a smore...

All the Blevins while on vacation...

Hudson at swim lessons with Mrs. Louise...

Hudson waiting for the parade on the 4th...

Have a happy rest of the summer!!


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Already time for school?

Yep... summer is winding down and in two weeks school will be back in session. My little first grader's backpack is filled with freshly bought markers, crayons, notebooks and the like and all we lack for clothes are some new shoes and jeans (Reed is skinny and tall - any good suggestions for little boys jeans that are long and lean?)  This summer has been full of trips, swimming, Six Flags and various other "do what we want" days.  I'm worn out but my kids had a wonderful summer and that's what it's about, right?

Yay for fall... :)

My Best Friend

My best friend-

• takes care of me when I'm sick
• wants to know how my day went
• holds me when I'm sad
• laughs with me when I'm happy
• tells me secrets
• keeps my secrets
• takes care of the little things that make my life run smoother
• makes me feel loved
• loves our children
• works hard so I stay home with our precious boys
• can still make me laugh like crazy
• is a wonderful daddy
• 
  

To my very best friend -  Eight years ago today, believing that love is a decision, I promised to make the choice each day to love and honor you. I have spent very close to half my life with you. I love you so much more than I did in the beginning and I am so thankful that you chose me. Happy Anniversary to the man that still gives me butterflies!

P.S. I didn't get you an anniversary card - this will have to do.  :)

The sad tale of Woody

Hudson loves Toy Story. We luckily had Reed's old Buzz and Woody for him to play with and for weeks he has carried them around and slept with them. We took them on the Blevins vacation and spent a lot of the time making Hudson share with Grace (who also loves Toy Story). Like I said, these toys are 3 years old and have been played with hard. Buzz no longer has wings and Woody doesn't talk, his brown hair paint is worn and a few days ago his left foot broke off. After the broken foot incident (and Hudson making a sad face and constantly reapeating "Oh no! Woody break!"), I was planning on buying him another Woody doll, but after I went to Target and saw it was $35, I thought it better to super glue that silly leg back on.

Grace's birthday was this week and we got together with the Blevins clan to eat. Gammy and DadDad gave her her birthday gifts - a new Buzz and Woody. Hudson was in awe. Buzz has wings that pop open when you push a button! Woody was brand new and had BOTH legs attached! Grace wasn't about to share (which I totally get - she's two, just spent the last week watching Hudson play with his Buzz and Woody and now that she had her own, she didn't want to share them right after she opened them - can't blame the girl). Now I can usually say to my kids to suck it up - they have very blessed lives and I rarely feel sorry for them. :) But this proved a little too much for me and Brian. Hudson didn't cry or throw a fit, he just looked at the toys like "Wow." I decided that night after we got home that I was going to go buy him a new Woody doll the next day, $35 or not. When I told Brian, he smiled and said he was planning on going to the store and buying him one too. :)

My mom and I went to Fort Worth the next day to run some errands and she bought him a Woody doll and pajamas at the Disney store. The next picture to me is priceless.

I love that precious little boy.

Canning

Brian has gotten me into canning. We knew that we needed to can some of the extra food from the garden, but I had no idea that I would like it. It is a lot of work, makes a mess, and there is a lot of 'equipment' to get out but it's really neat to have something that we made from a vegetable that we grew. A couple of weeks ago we made our 4th variety of pickles.

Aren't I just little Miss Farmers Wife with my stockpot? (By the way, I am wearing my free t-shirt from the 4th of July parade. I don't know what it is, but I love me a free t-shirt. Anyway, I yelled the loudest so they threw it to me. Very proud of that.)





My parents had a wild plum thicket at their house and they ended up picking almost a full 5 gallon bucket of them. The plums are really sour and so I got them ready to make jelly. (Why yes, that IS my copy of The Farmer's Wife's Canning and Preserving Cookbook you see in the background there. My husband bought that for me and I like it. Wow.)


Moving on, I spent a lot of today making our wild plum jelly. All those plums made quite a bit...


And for dinner, we had to try some on biscuits... And it is SO good!


After dinner, Reed asked if he could have a jar of jelly and a spoon. Awesome. :)

Blevins Vacation

We spent a few days with Brian's family at a house near Kerrville last week. We played in the river, hiked a little and just relaxed. It was a good time. Here are a few pictures from the trip. The walkway across the river...

Some of the hidden walkways up on the side of the hill..


The view of the house from the top of the hill


Hudson


Reed


The three cousins walking in the river


Grace and Hudson


Sunset

On our last morning in New York, we spent some time exploring Central Park. It was so pretty and I can see how it is an oasis for people whoe live in that crazy city. We only saw a small sampling of what it had to offer...

I took this next picture especially for Brian. This is the only thing he would be interested in in the whole city.... machinery. :)



To my mom- thank you for an AWESOME birthday present. I love you!!!!!

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Location:Last Day in New York

Day 4

Yesterday morning we got up and headed to the Statue of Liberty first thing. I'm glad we did because we were able to get through it pretty fast (well, fast compared to the hours long line we saw when we got back to Manhattan on the Ferry.)

We ate lunch at a yummy place in Soho and I hade to get a picture of the street sign... :)



We hopped on the double decker tour bus and headed to the Top of the Rock.


The view from up here is amazing!!!





We went and saw Stomp in the afternoon (LOVED it!!!) and got back on the bus for the nighttime tour loop. It wasn't quite nighttime, but the sunset pictures sure were pretty!!

Day 3

First let me fill in some things from Day 2. The subway is a mess. Once you figure the map out, it becomes slightly easier. Thank goodness, because somehow I got to be in charge of the map and deciding which train we should get on. I only got us on the wrong one once, but that was enough for me. We sat down at Coney Island to figure out our route and Becky sneakily (is that a word?) took a picture of me that speaks for itself...

Here we are headed to eat dinner and then off to Wicked.






After the show, we walked through Times Square and oh, my goodness it was packed! I'm wondering if that's normal for a Friday night or if it's leftover Lady Gaga people...





We had a great night.
Now on to Day 3...
This morning Becky went to meet a friend of hers for brunch, so my mom and I decided to do some shopping. We met back up a couple of hours later and headed to our double decker bus tour. We saw the soup restaurant from Seinfeld where the Soup Nazi was (this one is for you Brian)...



This is the building where John Lennon was killed and Yoko Ono still lives there to this day. Her apartment is the one at the top right corner. Interesting, huh? ;)



I loved the old buildings and really enjoyed the architecture. Here are just a few of the shots from the tour...












After our tour of uptown Manhattan, we went back to the hotel and freshened up for our next Broadway show...



It was a great show. When all the animals came out in the first scene, I got chill bumps! Here are my mom and me heading into the theater. Thanks to Becky for all the pictures!


We are hitting the sack for an early morning... Statue of Liberty, World Trade Center site, Top of the Rock observatory and much, much more! Yay!